Protocol for Surveying Bat Use of Lava Tube Caves during Winter in Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve, Standard Operating Procedures

Background The Upper Columbia Basin Network I&M (Inventory and Monitoring) program and Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve are collaborating to monitor winter bat use in Arco Tunnel, which is a safely accessed cave in the northern portion of the monument that consistently has been found with the largest number of bats (~30/year) among the set of caves recently inventoried. The standard operating procedures documented here and the methods described in the associated protocol narrative will also be used to periodically inventory other caves within the monument and surrounding preserve as park resources and safety (winter environmental and accessibility) conditions permit. This protocol addresses the survey objective to regularly count bats in Arco Tunnel during winter (January-March) and in other caves as environmental conditions and staff resources allow. Purpose This SOP describes the step-by-step procedures for preparing for field work and for preparing and organizing field equipment prior to the personnel training and entry into the field. Adequate preparation of equipment for the field and is crucial to a successful monitoring program

Protocol for Surveying Bat Use of Lava Tube Caves During Winter in Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve, Version 1.0

Executive Summary The mission of the National Park Service (NPS) is “to conserve unimpaired the natural and cultural resources and values of the national park system for the enjoyment of this and future generations” (NPS 1999). To uphold this goal, the Director of the NPS approved the Natural Resource Challenge to encourage national parks to focus on the preservation of the nation’s natural heritage through science, natural resource inventories, and expanded resource monitoring (NPS 1999). Through the Challenge, 270 parks in the national park system were organized into 32 inventory and monitoring (I&M) networks. The Upper Columbia Basin Network Inventory and Monitoring Program (UCBN) and Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve (CRMO) are collaborating to inventory and monitor winter bat use of selected lava caves in CRMO following common methods described in this document that have also been implemented in Lava Beds National Monument (LABE). Collaboration among these two parks and the UCBN will help the National Park Service as an agency move toward more efficient and effective conservation of bat resources. Winter surveys of bat use in CRMO lava tubes and other volcanic cave features will be implemented by CRMO staff. The UCBN will also assist CRMO with data management, analysis, and reporting at annual and 5-year intervals. Bats at CRMO are at risk of contracting the fungal disease white-nose syndrome, and also face elevated risk of fatal collisions with large commercial wind turbines which are increasingly common in southern Idaho. An additional concern to bats in the region over time is the threat of increasing aridification associated with accelerated climate change, which is predicted to stress female bats during reproduction and possibly cause some hibernacula to become unsuitable for prolonged torpor. CRMO actively manages visitor use in all caves and the methods outlined in this protocol will provide much needed baseline information about bats that will be used to guide cave management. This protocol details the why, where, how, and when of the CRMO bat cave use survey program for its lava tube caves. As recommended by Oakley et al. (2003), it consists of a protocol narrative and a set of standard operating procedures (SOPs) which detail the steps required to collect, manage, and disseminate the data representing the status and trend of bat use in select caves that are safely accessed in winter, and that are at risk of undesirable human impacts on bats. The SOPs are published in a separate document (Rodhouse et al. 2017), but references to individual SOPs will not be cited in the protocol narrative. An important and highly dynamic aspect of this protocol is the decontamination procedures required to prevent accidental introduction of the fungus Pseudogymnoascus destructans that causes white-nose syndrome. Decontamination procedures are updated by the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) as new information becomes available about effectiveness of cleaning agents. As part of the preparation for field work, the CRMO Project Lead and crew lead will review the most recent decontamination guidelines and train assisting field staff in its implementation. At this time, this protocol does not support the collection of bats under any circumstances. The intent of the protocol is to ensure that the park has the ability to safely and responsibly collect qualitative and quantitative information about the use of CRMO caves by bats during winter

Joint Genetic Susceptibility to Type 1 Diabetes and Autoimmune Thyroiditis: from Epidemiology to Mechanisms

Type 1 diabetes (T1D) and autoimmune thyroid diseases (AITD) frequently occur together within families and in the same individual. The co-occurrence of T1D and AITD in the same patient is one of the variants of the autoimmune polyglandular syndrome type 3 [APS3 variant (APS3v)]. Epidemiological data point to a strong genetic influence on the shared susceptibility to T1D and AITD. Recently, significant progress has been made in our understanding of the genetic association between T1D and AITD. At least three genes have been confirmed as major joint susceptibility genes for T1D and AITD: human leukocyte antigen class II, cytotoxic T-lymphocyte antigen 4 (CTLA-4), and protein tyrosine phosphatase non-receptor type 22. Moreover, the first whole genome linkage study has been recently completed, and additional genes will soon be identified. Not unexpectedly, all the joint genes for T1D and AITD identified so far are involved in immune regulation, specifically in the presentation of antigenic peptides to T cells. One of the lessons learned from the analysis of the joint susceptibility genes for T1D and AITD is that subset analysis is a key to dissecting the etiology of complex diseases. One of the best demonstrations of the power of subset analysis is the CTLA-4 gene in T1D. Although CTLA-4 showed very weak association with T1D, when analyzed in the subset of patients with both T1D and AITD, the genetic effect of CTLA-4 was significantly stronger. Gene-gene and genetic-epigenetic interactions most likely play a role in the shared genetic susceptibility to T1D and AITD. Dissecting these mechanisms will lead to a better understanding of the etiology of T1D and AITD, as well as autoimmunity in general